Third World poverty: up close, personal

CTA co-director Sheila Daley traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico last December for a retreat and immersion experience in the "realidad" of our impoverished sisters and brothers South of the Border. Her travel journal offers poignant reminders of the human costs of Third World Debt and the globalized economy. She writes:

"One morning we visited one of the poorest colonias in the city (photo above). The Benedictine sisters who run the retreat center are working with the local women to develop embroidery and sewing skills. The mother of these two girls displays a scarf she has embroidered. Behind them is their home: a tiny enclosure of discarded corrugated metal and other scrap materials. These colonias have no infrastructure. Water is stored in large barrels outside the homes. There is no plumbing system, and no electricity - except what people manage to 'liberate' by tapping into nearby utility poles.

"In another home, a grandmother explained she was very worried about her grandson because she didn't have the few pesos required to send him to school. While free education is guaranteed by the Mexican constitution, the government 'can't find' the money to adequately fund the education system, so the teachers must charge students for classroom supplies. Meanwhile, Mexico has a very good international credit rating because it keeps up its massive interest payments on its foreign debt."

Sheila's trip is having several effects at CTA: more Mexican handicrafts to market at conference, plans for more CTA members to experience the Cuernavaca immersion, and renewed fervor for Jubilee 2000 to cancel Third World Debt.